Taking The Plunge

[DocWill]

Ok I done it. 8O
I have read and re-read PIMO's book and I have placed my order today. Ordered a predrilled ebauchon for a straight pipe. Not my favorite pipe, but it was recomended in the book. I also ordered Buffing pads and tripoli and wax, and stain. That should be a good place to start. I have been making some skethes of designs I have in mind. I am looking forward to getting started.
I have a lathe question......which will be a ways off for me. Do you guys that have lathes use metal lathes or woodworking lathes? What sizes do you have?
If this is a topic that has been brought up before please forgive me.

Doc Will
Keep Yer Tobacco and Yer Powder Dry

[jeff]

Doc Will,

That topic has indeed been discussed pretty extensively here in the forums, but it is always good to ask. Most pipemakers use metal lathes. There are exceptions to this (Kurt Huhn being one), but metal lathes are the machinery of choice.

Congrats on taking the plunge! It's both scary and exciting at the same time, I know! In fact, this week marks my one year anniversary for pipemaking. Actually last week would be one year since I shaped my first two and this week being the week that they were finished. This forum was not in existence at that time, so you've got a great resource that can augment the PIMO readings and also flush out some of the details that are not discussed as thoroughly as you might have liked. So, feel free to ask away! We are all here to learn and help. Good luck!

Jeff

[Todd_Pytel]

Having just grappled with equipment questions, I'll jump in here. Being new at this, I may be missing some things...

I have a lathe question......which will be a ways off for me. Do you guys that have lathes use metal lathes or woodworking lathes? What sizes do you have?

Depends on the person, their techniques, and the lathe. You can get by with only a wood lathe, you could have one of each, or you could go with only a full-size metal lathe. There are pros and cons to each route as far as I can figure...

1) Wood lathe only - Pros: relatively inexpensive ($200-300 gets you a perfectly nice unit, though there's other tooling you'll need that adds to that price); can do just about everything on one tool. Cons: Can't cut tenons in the traditional way (using a metal lathe), thus you'll need a PIMO tenon tool, which is not cheap (~$60) and still has limitations. From what I understand (may not be much), handcutting stems would be difficult to impossible - thus, you'd be limited to molded stems.

2) Wood lathe for bowls + mini/micro metal lathe (e.g. Taig) for stems - Pros: gives you the ability to efficiently cut tenons and do stem work while still saving money over a "real" metal lathe (the two lathes will cost you around $700, plus other tooling). Cons: The Taig lathe and its cousins are too small to deal with churchwarden stems. You'll also realize how nifty and accurate metal lathes are and wish that your wood lathe could be like that.

3) Full size (~10" swing) metal lathe for everything - Pros: Accuracy - a lot of little tricks and procedures stop being relevant when you have an accurate machine. Cons: Cost - new ones will cost somewhere in $1000-$1500 range. Used ones could be very nice, and much cheaper, but you need to know what you're doing in order to evaluate a used unit. Size - hundreds of pounds of metal demand your respect. You won't be pushing it into the closet when company comes over. Also, as Todd J informed me, some of the "bonus" operations that you can use wood lathes for (like sanding and buffing) could be harmful to the bearings. So you'd need a separate motor/arbor setup or something similar for that.

For sure (at least, for most), the full-size metal lathe is the professional choice - it's just a question of how much you want to spend and what your shop/basement/garage can accomodate.

[bscofield]

If this were kurt huhn posting he'd be saying that he has a wood lathe and turns his tennon's on them just fine. He's my inspiration for starting w/ a wood lathe and seeing how I do...

[Tyler]

You can search the forum for old threads on this issue for more research. The link for a search is near the top of the page. I just did a quick search on "lathe" and returned 4 pages of hits. 8O

Congrats on taking the plunge...and welcome to the group!

Tyler

[KurtHuhn]

If this were kurt huhn posting he'd be saying that he has a wood lathe and turns his tennon's on them just fine. He's my inspiration for starting w/ a wood lathe and seeing how I do...

Oh my goodness! I'm an inspiration? I, I, I'm not sure what to say.

He's right though - I have a Jet Mini Lathe (nearly identical to a Delta Midi Lathe) and have not had any trouble with turning tenons. However, that operation isn't for everyone, as it takes a non-trivial amount of muscle control. However, once you get it down, it's pretty easy.

It's faster to use a metal lathe (I would guess), but if you don't have space for one, or the funds to get a good one, a nice wood lathe can fill in nicely.

I'd like I smallish metal lathe (slightly bigger than a Taig or Sherline), but I have other stuff that needs bought first, and it would probably end up being a one-trick-pony anyway.

[DocWill]

Thanks for the guidence Tyler. Still learning my way around your sight. I did find lots of good info in the "search" menu. I had been hunting around for an "archive" menu.
Doc Will
Keep Yer Tobacco and Yer Powder Dry

[Tyler]

Thanks for the guidence Tyler. Still learning my way around your sight. I did find lots of good info in the "search" menu. I had been hunting around for an "archive" menu.
Doc Will
Keep Yer Tobacco and Yer Powder Dry

You won't find an archive menu. All of the posts that have ever been posted are still here out in the open. Nothing is archived away.

Have fun!



Tyler

[Nick]

Kurt's my hero too, but Todd is a close second.

[LexKY_Pipe]

In terms of a metal lathe, what brands should be considered?